CHAPTER VII 



BEDFORDSHIRE : SURVEYING 



It was, I think, early in the summer of 1837 that I went 

 with my brother William into Bedfordshire to begin my edu- 

 cation as a land-surveyor. The first work we had was to 

 survey the parish of Higham Gobion for the commutation 

 of the tithes. It was a small parish of about a thousand 

 acres, with the church, vicarage, and a good farmhouse on the 

 highest ground, and a few labourer's cottages scattered about, 

 but nothing that could be called a village. The whole parish 

 was one large farm; the land was almost all arable and the 

 fields very large, so that it was a simple piece of work. We 

 took up our quarters at the Coach and Horses public-house 

 in the village of Barton-in-the-Clay, six miles north of Luton, 

 on the coach-road to Bedford. We were nearly a mile from 

 the nearest part of the parish, but it was the most convenient 

 place we could get. 



An intelligent young labourer was hired to draw the chain 

 in measuring, while I carried a flag or measuring-rod and 

 stuck in pegs or cut triangular holes in the grass where re- 

 quired, to form marks for future reference. We carried bill- 

 hooks for cutting rods and pegs, as well as for clearing away 

 branches that obstructed the view, and for cutting gaps in 

 the hedges on the main lines of the survey, in order to lay 

 them out perfectly straight. We started work after an early 

 breakfast, and usually took with us a good supply of bread- 

 and-cheese and half a gallon of beer, and about one o'clock 

 sat down under the shelter of a hedge to enjoy our lunch. 

 My brother was a great smoker, and always had his pipe after 

 lunch (and often before breakfast), and, of course, the chain- 



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